Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Holdings Raised by Savant Capital LLC

Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,665 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Meritage Homes were worth $431,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meritage Homes by 4.3% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,689 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meritage Homes by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 1,842 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Meritage Homes by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 676 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. DMC Group LLC increased its holdings in Meritage Homes by 4.5% in the second quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 2,421 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $392,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in Meritage Homes by 1.1% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,126 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,639,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. 98.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on MTH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Meritage Homes from $173.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Raymond James raised their target price on Meritage Homes from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush upped their price target on Meritage Homes from $148.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Meritage Homes from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total transaction of $2,003,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,793.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Phillippe Lord sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.35, for a total value of $2,003,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,266 shares in the company, valued at $18,084,793.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Javier Feliciano sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.36, for a total transaction of $595,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,837,936.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,500 shares of company stock worth $3,111,080 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Meritage Homes Price Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $203.55 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.64. Meritage Homes Co. has a twelve month low of $109.23 and a twelve month high of $210.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.39 billion, a PE ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 1.93.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The construction company reported $6.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $1.14. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 12.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.02 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Meritage Homes Co. will post 21.09 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meritage Homes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.99%.

About Meritage Homes

Meritage Homes Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs and builds single-family attached and detached homes in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Homebuilding and Financial Services. It acquires and develops land; and constructs, markets, and sells homes for entry-level and first move-up buyers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.